Study Group for Russian Culture and the Media

Forthcoming Event:

DAY OF RUSSIAN ANIMATION

19 November 2008, Watershed Media Centre Bristol

In conjunction with the Encounters Festival at Bristol, a Day of Russian Animation will be held, including a presentation of new Russian cartoons, or restored puppet animation of the 1900s and a lecture by the Russian film critic Larisa Maliukova.

2pm: Larisa Maliukova (Moscow): The State of the Art – Russian Animation Today (followed by Q&A)

4pm: New Russian Animation

6pm: Peter Lord presents: Alexander Shiryaev

Viktor Bocharov's documentary A Belated Premiere will be screened, followed by original footage of stop-frame animation, paper animation and trick films an a Q&A with Viktor Bocharov, Peter Lord and David Robinson (Tickets only - from the Watershed or Encounters in late October.

To register for the event and reserve a free ticket for the lecture and the contemporary animation programme, please contact Birgit Beumers before 1 October. There is only a limited number of free places available for BASEES members.

 

History

This Study Group of BASEES has been established in 1998, and activities are being co-ordinated by Birgit Beumers at the University of Bristol. The group aims to invite to its events (bi-annual symposia and conferences) scholars from outside Russian departments, such as architecture, arts, music, cinema, theatre studies, media, who have an interest in Russia.

The Group held its first conference in Bristol at the Watershed Media Centre on 1 May 1999. The conference Building Sites: The Construction and Demolition of Other Worlds in Soviet and Russian Culture of the 1930s and 1990s brought together scholars from Russian Studies and related areas (film studies, art history, architecture, design) and focused on the way in which arts and culture especially of the 1930s and the 1990s were concerned with the construction of new worlds and the creation of different realities. Speakers included: Brandon Taylor, Mike O'Mahony, Catherine Cooke, Emma Widdis, Graham Roberts (Leeds), Richard Taylor, Nikolai Izvolov (Moscow), Viacheslav Shmyrov (Moscow), and others.

A symposium on Russian shorts (short debut films, animation and ads) was held at the Watershed Media Centre on 28 October 2000.

A conference on Russian Music for Film and Theatre took place from 1-2 December 2001 at the Watershed Media Centre. It coincided with a programme of three new Russian films, one of which, Tender Age was introduced by the dorector, Sergei Soloviev. The film composer Alexander Pantykin (Ekaterinburg) gave a workshop on the implications of composing for film during his visit, which was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture (Russia). Other participants included Neil Edmunds, Arnold McMillin, Richard Taylor, Alexander Ivashkin.

A conference on Stalin’s Cultural Legacy was organised by Mike O'Mahony and held at the University of Bristol from 15 -16 March 2003. This conference explored the notion of Stalin’s legacy both during and after his lifetime within the broad cultural arena. Speakers included : Marie-Christine Autant-Mathieu (CNRS, Paris), Peter Barta (University of Surrey), Djurdja Bartlett (London College of Fashion), John Bates (University of Glasgow), Fiona Bjvrling (Lund University), Vitaly Chernetsky (Columbia University, New York), Neil Edmunds (University of the West of England), Reuben Fowkes (University of Essex), Jukka Gronow University of Helsinki), Dina Iordanova (University of Leicester), Polly Jones (St. Antony's College, Oxford), Tony Kemp-Welch (University of East Anglia), Rosalind Marsh (University of Bath), David MacFadyen (UCLA), Maureen Perrie (University of Birmingham), Susan Reid (University of Sheffield), Albert Resis (Northern Illinois University), John Riley (British Universities Film and Video Council), Dawn Seckler (Univeristy of Pittsburgh), Helen Tilly (University of Bristol), Sarah Young (University of Nottingham). 

A conference on The Mass Media in Post-Soviet Russia was held jointly with the School of Arts at the University of Surrey from 6-8 April 2006 at the University of Surrey in Guildford. This conference was partly funded by the AHRB grant awarded to Professor Stephen Hutchings for a three-year project focussing on post-Soviet television culture. Conference Organisers: Stephen Hutchings, Natalia Rulyova, Birgit Beumers 

The online journal  KinoKultura offers information on cotemporary Russian cinema and links to several Russian film festival sites.